Group
Group

Chekhov’s First Play

Dead Centre presents

8-11 June 2022

A white woman with loose, short hair sits at a table on which the camera is positioned. In the foreground on the table is a pair of brown leather boots and a small black backpack. The woman is wearing a red jacket over a shirt and a large pair of headphones. She is holding a gun, pointing towards the ceiling, which she is looking at. There is a window behind her.
‘I’m having absolutely nothing to do with the theatre or the human race. They can all go to hell.’ – Anton Chekhov

‘I’m having absolutely nothing to do with the theatre or the human race. They can all go to hell.’
– Anton Chekhov

During the turmoil of the Russian Revolution in 1917, Maria Chekhov, Anton’s sister, placed many of her late brother’s manuscripts and papers in a safety deposit box in Moscow. In 1921 Soviet scholars opened the box, and discovered a play. The title page was missing. The play they found has too many characters, too many themes, too much action. All in all, it’s generally dismissed as unstageable. Like life.

Dead Centre, creators of the OBIE award-winning LIPPY (winner of a Fringe First, Herald Angel Award and the Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Production), return to do injustice to a great playwright. Chekhov before he was Chekhov.

‘I’m having absolutely nothing to do with the theatre or the human race. They can all go to hell.’
– Anton Chekhov

During the turmoil of the Russian Revolution in 1917, Maria Chekhov, Anton’s sister, placed many of her late brother’s manuscripts and papers in a safety deposit box in Moscow. In 1921 Soviet scholars opened the box, and discovered a play. The title page was missing. The play they found has too many characters, too many themes, too much action. All in all, it’s generally dismissed as unstageable. Like life.

Dead Centre, creators of the OBIE award-winning LIPPY (winner of a Fringe First, Herald Angel Award and the Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Production), return to do injustice to a great playwright. Chekhov before he was Chekhov.

A white man with a beard wearing a shirt stands in front of a red theatre curtain. He's visible from the waist up. He is holding up a gun in one hand that points towards the ceiling. In the other hand, he's holding a microphone up to his mouth.

ACCESSIBILITY

ISL Performance – 9 June, 19:30
Relaxed Performance – 11 June, 13:30

Headphones are provided and worn throughout the performance. For the relaxed performance on Saturday 11 June at 13:30, there will be headphones available at a lower volume.

You can find the latest information about Project’s accessibility here. Please do not hesitate to contact us at access@projectartscentre.ie or call 01 8819 613.

CREDITS

Set design: Andrew Clancy
Costume design: Saileóg O’Halloran
Lighting design: Stephen
Dodd Effects and onstage design: Grace O’Hara
Sound design: Jimmy Eadie and Kevin Gleeson
Choreography: Liv O’Donoghue

Cast
Andrew Bennett
Alexandra Conlon
Tara Egan-Langley
Dan Reardon
Dylan Tighe
Ali White

Text by: Anton Chekhov and Dead Centre
Directed by: Bush Moukarzel and Ben Kidd
Producer: Natalie Hans

Photo Credits
Image 1: Photo by Adam Trigg
Image 2: Photo by Adrian Bulboaca
Image 3: Photo by José Miguel Jimenez

A group of 3 women and 2 men people sit with their backs to the camera around a table, as a man in a suit stands in the shadows to the right. They are white and their costume and hair is Victorian in style. The table is covered with a white tablecloth and on it sit bottles of wine, crystal glasses, a silver ice bucket, a straw hat and a game of chess. One of the seated men has a guitar propped up next to him. All of the people are looking at a large black wrecking ball hanging down from the ceiling, the top of which is on fire. The windows in the room are letting in dusky light and there is a large arched doorway open at the back.

BIOGRAPHIES

Dead Centre was founded by Bush Moukarzel and Ben Kidd in Dublin in 2012.

They have made 6 original projects in Dublin, which have toured around the world, to London, New York, Boston, Amsterdam, Brisbane, Hong Kong and Seoul among many others.

LIPPY premiered in 2013 in Dublin. It has since toured the UK and around the world including to the Young Vic, Traverse (Edinburgh), Schaubühne (Berlin) It was winner of the Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Production, a Fringe First, a Herald Angel, a Total Theatre Award and two OBIE Awards. Chekhov’s First Play premiered in Dublin in 2015, and has since toured around the world including to the Schaubühne, BAC (London), Theatre Vidy (Lausanne), Helsinki Festival, Vie Festival (Italy) and the St Petersburg Cultural Forum. Hamnet premiered in April 2017, and has toured the world, most recently playing at BAM in New York. Their most recent Dublin premieres were Beckett’s Room, which opened at Dublin Theatre Festival in 2019 and To Be a Machine (Version 1.0) which streamed live as part of Dublin Theatre Festival 2020.

Dead Centre have also created original projects with the ensembles in Schaubühne, Berlin Burgtheater, Vienna and Stadsteater, Gothenburg.

PRESS

★★★★★
“A perceptive and funny dismantling of theatre”
The Stage

★★★★
“A brilliant endeavour. Riveting to watch.”
The Irish Times

★★★★
“Witty, inventive and original”
The Telegraph

“An iconoclastic and joyful version of Platonov. Returns us to the essence of theatre.”Le Monde

FUNDING

Generously supported by Arts Council Ireland. Co-commissioned by Battersea Arts Centre and Irish Arts Center. A co-production with Dublin Theatre Festival, Baltoscandal and TnBA. Project co-produced by NXTSTP, with the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union.

DISCLAIMER

Headphones are provided and worn throughout the performance. Contains nudity, strong language and loud and sudden noises.

Tickets

€25/ €20 Conc.

Time

8-11 June 19:30

Sat 11 June Matinee 13:30

70 mins

Location

Space Upstairs

Content Warning

Headphones are provided and worn throughout the performance. Contains nudity, strong language and loud and sudden noises.

Accessibility

ISL Performance – 9 June, 19:30
Relaxed Performance – 11 June, 13:30

Headphones are provided and worn throughout the performance. For the relaxed performance on Saturday 11 June at 13:30, there will be headphones available at a lower volume.

You can find the latest information about Project’s accessibility here. Please do not hesitate to contact us at access@projectartscentre.ie or call 01 8819 613.

Genres

Theatre
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